Random thoughts on almost anything and everything, with an emphasis on defense, intelligence, politics and national security matters..providing insight for the non-cleared world since 2005.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Remembering a Real Hero

Amid today's orgy of adulation over Michael Jackson, we should pause and remember real heroes--men and women who paid the ultimate price for this nation, but whose lives go uncelebrated.

U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw was one of individuals. He died on June 25th, the same day that Michael Jackson passed away. But Lieutenant Bradshaw didn't die in a Hollywood mansion from a drug-induced heart attack. He was killed on a road in Afghanistan, when his vehicle was targeted by an improvised explosive device.

"He said that where they were at you couldn't recognize if they were making a difference, but they had made friends in that area."

The danger was obvious, his father said, but whenever his son spoke about it "he was worried about all his men ... not himself."

Lieutenant Bradshaw's death might have gone unnoticed outside his home state of Washington, except for his aunt, Martha Gillis. In a recent letter to the Washington Post, she bemoaned the lack of coverage of recent combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, while describing non-stop tributes to Jackson as "totally ridiculous" and laughable.

Since Mr. Jackson expired last month, Lieutenant Bradshaw--and 12 other American warriors--have died in Afghanistan alone. Keep them (and their families) in your prayers. They deserve our gratitude and thanks.

Regrettably, most of our celebrity-crazed citizens aren't even aware of their sacrifice.

5 comments:

News flash: Michael Jackson didn't kill U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw. In fact, Michael Jackson's death has nothing to do with U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw.

I'll wager that U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw didn't join the military to become famous. He didn't expect his death to be front page news, at least not world-wide.

Michael Jackson is an important part of American and indeed world-wide pop culture. His death has significance to millions of people, maybe even billions of people.

Comparing the death of U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw to the death of Michael Jackson is pointless.

I can understand that the grandmother of U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw is more concerned with the death of her grandson than with the death of Michael Jackson. I can understand if others also are more concerned with his death than with that of Michael Jackson. But there is no relationship between the two deaths.

You can say that U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw is a real hero. I don't disagree. It still has nothing to do with the death of Michael Jackson.

You obviously missed the point of the commentary. Michael Jackson and people like him are nowhere nearly as important to America and its future as people like Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw. People such as the LT and those who preceded him and those who will come after him make America the place of possibilities for people like Michael Jackson and all of us. We owe a debt of gratitude to Lt. Bradshaw and his family that we can never repay in full. What the LT did was not for personal gain or glory; it was out of his deep abiding respect for what we stand for as a nation and his commitment to Mankind. The same cannot be said for those who reap the harvest of those who make the sacrifice without paying anything back.

@PCSSEPA, I didn't miss anything. The point of the commentary was to offer praise to U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw and honor his death, and to heap scorn on Michael Jackson and on his 'drug-induced death.' Further it was to heap scorn on those Americans who cared more about the death of Michael Jackson than of U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw and others like him.

This is a false dichotomy. Normal people can mourn the deaths of both Michael Jackson and U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw. This is the weakness in this commentary.

You say that people like U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw are more important to our county than people like Michael Jackson. Nowhere in my post did I say anything that contradicted that.

The point is that these two deaths are not related. By attempting to compare these two deaths the spook has taken a very cheap shot.

If you and the spook want to stand on the dead head of Michael Jackson and kick dirt into his dead mouth then I guess that's your privilege. Do you think U.S. Army Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw died so that you can do that?